Rules of the Lake

"Ziegler's dry wit and facility with metaphor offer a visceral evocation of a not-so-sunny childhood."
Click for New York Times Review

Ashes to Water

"Irene Ziegler is an extremely talented writer who has gone straight to my must-read list."
Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author 

 

"Ziegler's fiction throbs with the look, feel and smell of a fully imagined place, the pre-Disney Florida of her youth."
Ellen Douglas

Monologue And Play Collections Co-Edited With John Capecci

222 Comedy Monologues 2 Minutes and Under

222 More Comedy Monologues
2 Minutes and Under

221 One-Minute Monologues for Women

221 One-Minute Monologues from Classic Plays

221 One-Minute Monologues for Men

105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance

222 Monologues, 2 Minutes and Under from Literature

161 One-Minute Monologues from Literature

Full-length and Short Plays

To inquire about availability, please contact me.

The Little Lion

Full length drama

     Adapted from the novel by Nancy Wright Beasley. In World War II,  a young Lithuanian motorcycle enthusiast finds a way to use courage and mechanical talents to help his family escape from a Nazi ghetto.
Produced by Swift Creek Mill Playhouse, Colonial Heights, VA and Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke, VA

Full Plate Collection

Full length comedy

Winner of the Martha Newell Playwrights Award.
     

A celebration of outdated fictional female icons who evolve to stay relevant in today's cultural environment. Barbie, Betty Boop, Betty Crocker, Rosie the Riveter and Aunt Jemima come to life in the form of a collection of plates hawked on a TV shopping network.

Produced by Theatre Gym, Richmond, VA and North Street Playhouse, Onancock, VA.

Full Plate Collection Program

Miss Palmer's School of Penmanship and Civil Behavior

Full length comedy

Miss Palmer instructs "civility offenders" on the rehabilitative benefits of cursive handwriting, and advocates vigorously for its resurrection.

Readings at The Lark, NY, Studio Theatre, NYC, and The Lab, Richmond, VA

Rules of the Lake

Solo Performance Drama

Winner of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award for Drama

A bittersweet memoir about growing up on a lake in pre-Disney Florida.​

Produced by Theatre Gym, Richmond, VA and The Cultural Arts Center, DeLand, FL

Irene Ziegler in Rules of the Lake

Rules of the Lake

High Grass

One act serio-comedy

Two strangers meet during Community Clean Up Day and pick up trash on the side of the road. What people recycle, reuse, or discard becomes metaphor for healing and redemption as these two mismatched volunteers form a tenuous bond. 

Commissioned by The Company of Fools, Hailey, ID. ​Produced by K Dance, Richmond, VA, and The Actors Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA

 

Luna

One act solo performance serio-comedy

In this feminist exploration of monogamy and survival, a hungry, hurt and over the hill female wolf named Luna tries to convince an alpha lion to share his kill.

Commissioned by The Company of Fools, Hailey, ID

Out in the Open

One act drama

A policeman confesses to his African American fiancee that his father was involved in a KKK killing decades before. Based on a true story.

Produced twice by Griot Theatre, Brooklyn and as part of the Shortz Festival, Los Angeles

End of the Line

One act comedy

A young boy becomes attached to the "bus lady voice" on the local bus, and rides it incessantly.

Produced as part of the 8 at 10 Festival, NYC and the One-Act Play Festival in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.